Studying the human brain is difficult because of its vast and intricate network of neural connections. The fruit fly offers a simpler but similar model that researchers can more easily map.
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Existing brain connections may influence the effectiveness of neurostimulation. Tailoring treatments to each individual brain could expand the number of conditions brain stimulation can treat.
Understanding how the brain translates smells into behavior change can help advance search and rescue technology and treatments for neurological conditions.
Three pioneering technologies have forever altered how researchers do their work and promise to revolutionize medicine, from correcting genetic disorders to treating degenerative brain diseases.
Brains recognize a smell based on which cells fire, in what order – the same way you recognize a song based on its pattern of notes. How much can you change the ‘tune’ and still know the smell?
Some treatments for neurodegenerative diseases involve inserting wires into the brain and zapping certain brain cells with electricity. But what if you could do the same thing using sound waves?
Our brains create new memories, and forget old ones, by forging and breaking connections between nerve cells. Now researchers can do something similar using a light-sensitive electronic chip.
There’s both money and prestige invested in the simple idea that different brain areas are responsible for certain functions. But that doesn’t make it true.
Using light to manipulate cells is leading to some startling findings.
Mate choice is one of the most highly selected traits in any animal. Just ask a fruitfly, which devotes a large share of its genes to choosing and attracting a mate.
Researchers have developed a method for “silencing” neurons using an external light source. Research done by the Massachusetts…
If you’ve ever been frustrated by erratic memories, spare a thought for the mice involved in a study published in the journal Science. Researchers have been able to consistently create a “false memory…
Top contributors
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Jenny Graves is a Friend of The Conversation.Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Vice Chancellor's Fellow, La Trobe University
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DPhil candidate, University of Oxford
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Professor of Chemistry, Connecticut College
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Cell biologist, University of Liverpool
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Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience, Lund University
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Associate Professor of Molecular Neurobiology (Salk Institute) and Assistant Adjunct Professor of Neurobiology, University of California, San Diego
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Associate Professor, RMIT University
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Research Fellow, RMIT University
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Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Bryant University
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Ph.D. Student in Neuroscience, New York University
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Professor of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder
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Project Manager of the NSF NeuroNex Odor2Action Network, University of Colorado Boulder
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Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, California Institute of Technology
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Trustees of ASU Professor, Arizona State University
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Provost and Senior Vice President, Lehigh University
